GSD: Shifting Shadows
by Darkstormer
Summary: The theft of ZAFT's new mobile suits from Armory One, prompted an organization hidden from all powers to act to secure a would-be ally to help against an enemy neither Earth Alliance or ZAFT is truly prepared for. However, in doing so, they are unwillingly dragged into a conflict they neither asked for or wished to be a part of.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs in this story and probably the story idea? (shrugs) Oh and maybe some mild swearing.

* * *

GSD: Shifting Shadows

Shift 01: Operation Meteor

Asteroid Belt, IMC: Shifting Shadows

Commander Graves sat alone in his office, his slightly wrinkled face marred with a frown. On his desk was a report of the Armory One Incident that happened 11 earth standard hours ago. The revelation of new type mobile suits and its subsequent theft by an unknown entity, which was really an Earth Alliance black ops operation if one squints at it closely enough. This threw the IMC's entire itinerary to establish first contact operations with Orb down the drain.

"Two years, in just two years," Commander Graves sighed in resignation. He press the intercom button, "Central, what does it take to get some god-damn peace in this place."

On the other side of the line, John "Central" Bradford was confused by the commander's out-of-the-blue question. He looked at the nearby operator manning one of the MiCo stations who also heard the Commander. The operator looked at Central with a confused expression.

"I- I don't really know sir." Bradford heard muted sigh on the other end of the line.

"Get Chimera Squad Leader and tell him to report to my office."

"Yes, Commander."

Commander Graves leaned on his chair, a plan beginning to form in his mind.

* * *

Chimera Squad, one of the three special ops squad which answers and takes orders directly from the Commander, is primarily use for tertiary operations. Meaning, they are back ups for the other two squads and where rookie pilots are placed to earn combat experience; Thus the squad is usually use for patrols and clean up operations. Which is why Lieutenant Ian Ran combed his wavey chin-length charcol hair back in confusion.

"Can you repeat that again, sir?"

"I want you and three others to make contact with a ZAFT battleship. I believe that Chief Representative Attha and her bodyguard, one Alex Dino also known as Athrun Zala are onboard the Battleship Minerva currently in pursuit of an Earth Alliance ship." Commander Graves pulled out a disk and placed it in front of the young Lieutenant. "Once you confirmed the representative is onboard, give this to her. In person."

"Anything else?" Ran grabbed the disk gingerly and held it up on his face.

"Ensure the safe return of Representative Attha back to Orb." Ran saw a problem right away.

"We're not allowed to bring our mobile suits." He stated to the commander. Most of IMC's mobile suits were developed and built in-house by the IMC's Engineering Division lead by Doctor Raymond Shen and his daughter An-Yi "Lily" Shen. IMC's Mobile Suits were designed primarily for space with long operational times in mind thus they were powered by a miniaturized Nuclear Reactors. This, however, presents a problem and a rather glaring hindsight. The area around earth is suffuse with Neutron Jammer particles and Dr. Vahlen and her team hadn't have time to develop a means to counteract the jammers; as she was too busy combining phase shift armor technology with Vahlenium alloy which IMC use as their primary armor component for their fourth-generation mobile suits.

"Your team will be provided with Mobile Suits we 'appropriated' before hand. You have one hour to prepare yourself and whomever you're taking and report to Hangar 4." Ran stood up and saluted the commander before taking his leave.

* * *

Saros Graves, second son of Commander Robert Graves, tried to quell his nervousness by reading a book. This mission is going to be his sixth sortie out of his home. In front of him, the mobile suits were being loaded into a fast cargo hauler by cranes. All four suits were old third-generation IMC mobile suits called the Chimera. The Chimera is design to use the CAS or Change Armour System. Typically called the Chimera System, it replaces the armour and weaponry to change the mobile suit's performance to better suit the battlefield and roles. This makes Chimera-type mobile suits the mainstay mobile suits of IMC with fourth and, currently in-development fifth-generation, equipped with NRs. Currently the Chimera is equipped a custom-made armour to resemble CGUEs painted in dull metallic gray with MA-M4A Heavy Swords. However, each mobile suit is incorporated with retooled technologies common to the latest mobile suits developed by EA, and ZAFT. Such as the new high density ultra compact rechargeable battery which increases the operational time of the mobile suit by two hundred percent. The increased operational time is somewhat offset by the fact that each suit is equipped with the phase shift armour, integrated beam sabers, and MA-M21G beam rifles for the three pseuodo-CGUEs with the fourth equipped with an IMC develop and built Mark-1 IMC-LRS (Long Range Sniping) Beam Rifle.

"Yo!" a voice greeted the young pilot. Saros look up to see his squadmate Vivian Onatis wearing the somewhat bulky but well-armoured Deep Space Survival Suit or DS3 for short with the accompanying helmet with reflective visor tucked in one arm. Pilots sometimes call the suits Squeezers because of how hard it was for first time pilots to 'squeeze' inside one.

"Hello, Vivi." Saros greeted, more like murmured back at her. She leaned forward, twisting her head one side and cupped her ear.

"Say, that again." She smirked at him while Saros frowned slightly. "Just kidding, Commandy Boy." Saros twitched in annoyance at that cursed nickname. "Say, have you seen De Arc? Didn't see her back at the locker room." He shook his head in reply as he tried to get back to reading. Just then, Joan "de Arc" Watson scampered towards them wearing the DS3 with Lieutenant Ran just behind her holding a thick folder.

"Hey, guys." Joan greeted at her two squad mates with a wave. "Some mission right?" We get to meet a bon-a-fide princess and her knight!" She said it with her excitement barely contained.

"Please, this is 'the' Athrun Zala we're talking about. A ZAFT elite red coat, Hero, and quite a looker too." Saros took a stepped back and covered his face with the book, trying to protect himself from the cheeriness of the two girls.

"Okay, Boy and Girls" Ran's voice halted the girls' fangirlism, "All aboard the hauler. We won't have support for this mission." He pointedly look at Vivi, "No showing off and don't lose your equipment."

"Sir!" The three pilot snap their heels together and saluted.

* * *

7+ hours from mission start, 10 minutes away from interception

Lieutenant Ran floated inside the cockpit of the the cargo hauler and grab the pilot's head rest to stop himself. "What is it?"

"Message from the commander, additional orders." The pilot handed him a datapad. Ran quickly read through it.

"Mission received. We're heading out."

"Sir?"

"We're faster with our mobile suits." Ran stated as he pushed against the headrest and floated out of the cockpit. "Saros, Vi, De Arc," He order through the radio, "Start up your mobile suits. We're launching in two minutes." He received three short affirmatives.

Saros Graves lock his suit's helmet in place as he floated towards his mobile suit. He looked at Vivi as she closed her CGUE's cockpit, she gave him a thumb up before being encased inside. The CGUE's eye flashed red before it moved side to side. Saros stepped inside his CGUE and initiated the start up sequence. As the system booted up, he opened up one of the suits external pockets and checked to see if the book was inside. The book in question is Sun Tzu's Art of War. He already read it a couple of times before and consider it his good luck charm. The smooth black walls flashed into existence as the camera system came to life, showing the Lieutenant making his way to his mobile suit. Saros glanced over the console and found everything in working order and closed the cockpit, sealing him inside.

Outside, the cargo container the mobile suits were crammed into began the depressurization process. The container then opened revealing a debris field. A holographic screen appeared showing a flight plan. Saros quickly downloaded the plan into the systems navigation control.

"Chimera Squad head out!" The lieutenant's suit floated out of the container, its phase shift armour adding a lighter shade to the dull grey metallic color of the mobile suit. Vivi and De Arc match the lieutenant's maneuver, both activating their phase shift armour but floated just outside the cargo container matching the hauler's velocity.

Saros's mobile suit grabbed the IMC-LRS beam rifle that was securely attached to the container before hefting it. Applying a bit of thrust, the suit floated out of the container's confines. A small screen popped up, with the lieutenat's reflective visor, "Stagger Formation, full burn for eight seconds. Compensate for debris but make sure to stay on course."

"Roger!" "Affirmative" Saros just nodded before the video link winked out. Ran's mobile suit shot out first before the three followed. On the distant horizon was the corpse of Junius Seven with Earth as its backdrop.

Shift 01 End


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs in this story and probably the story idea? (shrugs) Oh and some mild swearing, but I try not. I swear! Some of the scenes and conversations are directly taken from the episode.

GSD: Shifting Shadows

Shift 02: Mission Start

Athrun Zala, once part of ZAFT's elite red coats, did a last minute check on the ZAKU's status. The last time he piloted a mobile suit, Cagalli got injured by his recklessness. He tightened his grip on the throttle control before he relaxed. 'Just piloting to support the breakers' he relaxed himself as he felt the ZAKU being moved into the launch catapult. The mobile suit suddenly jerked to a stop; he saw the signaller move the light sticks to the halt position. 'Something's wrong'

The intercom came alive with Meyrin's urgent voice, "Abort launch!" This halted all activity inside the hangar bay, she continued, "A change in situation. The Joule Team is engaged in combat with an unknown opponent at Junius Seven."

'Yzak?' Athrun said in surprise.

"All units, alter your equipment and prepare for anti-mobile suit combat." Athrun contacted the CIC, with Meyrins face appearing on screen.

"What going on?!" Athrun all but demanded the somewhat dismayed face of the operator.

"I have no idea, but your mission to support the Joule Team is still unchanged! Upon completing the equipment switch, please proceed for take off!"

"Roger." Athrun cut of the comm link; however, another one was established with Lunamaria, the pilot of the red Zaku. Even in combat situation she remains upbeat, he thought.

"The situation has changed," she said, smiling "It could be dangerous." Athrun didn't answer her disrepectful statement and she continued, "Would you rather not go?"

"Give me a little respect." Lunamaria cutoff the link. Athrun glared at the screen for a bit before adjusting the suit for combat in space.

* * *

Chimera Squad, two minutes until entry to Junius Seven airspace.

Ian Ran eyed the nav console when the computer alerted him of a sensor contact coming from his starboard side 174 kilometers out. It was the unknown battleship that attack Armory One and stole the three mobile suits. He debated on changing course and attacking the enemy unit.

"Sir" Joan radioed him, "Unknown Ship is launching Class-3 mobile suits, should we engaged?"

"Negative, stay on course. Primary objective is to meet up with the VIP." He cut of the link. Two minutes till communication range.

The radar operator, Ensign Burt Heim, watch the console closely as he took in the chaos of the battlefield. Out of nowhere, four new high speed contacts appeared at the edge of the screen. The cross section returns were minimal due to the debris field playing havoc with Minerva's sensors. Calculating their trajectory, his eyes widened as he found out the four new contact were on an intercept course towards Minerva.

"Captain! New contacts on an intercept course!"

"New enemy?" Arthur asked as he gave a questioning look at the radar operator.

"Mobile Suits?" Captian Gladys calmly inquired.

"Unknown. Minimal heat signatures. Intercept time, three minutes!"

Meyrin held a hand on her headset. The Captain noticed this and held her silence. "Incoming laser communication. F-from lead unknown!"

"Put it on screen."

"Y-yes Ma'am" the screen appeared pitch black before a person wearing a pilot helmet with a reflective visor materialized.

"State your intentions, or be fired upon." Captain Gladys threatened the new contact.

The pilot was quiet for a couple of seconds before asking, "Are you Captain Talia Gladys of the ZAFT battleship Minerva?"

Most of the bridge crew were taken aback by the question. Chairman Durandal appeared expressionless, while Cagalli's expression was of confusion.

"Yes, I am. May I ask who you are?" Again the person didn't say anything for a couple of seconds.

"Lieutenant Ran, IMC. Is representative Attha onboard?" This drew a questioning look to Cagalli who was bewildered. Captain Gladys stared at Cagalli, asking if to confirm or deny the man. Cagalli stepped down and stood beside the Captain.

"I'm Representative Cagalli Yula Attha, what do you want?" The person slightly nodded when he saw Cagalli.

"Ah. I'm to deliver a message to you."

"Yes?"

"In person. Captain, permission to come aboard your ship?" Gladys turned to Chairman Durandal. The Chairman was quiet for a moment, contemplating this new unknown development. He nodded to her.

"Permission granted; however, you will be escorted by onboard security."

"One more thing, Captain. My team wish to help you on your Junius Seven operations. Can you designate us as allies and forward us mission-critical parameters."

"Chairman?" Gladys turned to Durandal.

"The more machines we have, the better our chances. Permission granted."

"We'll forward you with the necessary data and informed the rest of ZAFT of your non-hostile designation."

"Thank you, Captain. Ran out." The IMC lieutenant switched to the squad's secure channel and barked out an order. "You three, run CAP around Junius Seven. The enemy hostile units are the ZAFT GINNs equipped with Mobility Packs. Also keep an eye out for the three stolen mobile suits. We don't know their intentions yet. Clear?"

"Sir!" The three responded in unison.

"Break!" The

Ensign Heim watched as the four new contacts' sensor signature change to resemble mobile suits. Specifically, the readings closely resemble a Gundam Unit. He turned his head on the big screen, the starboard external camera zoomed in on the three objects barreling towards the designated combat zone.

"They're CGUE's" exclaimed Arthur. "Are they part of ZAFT?" Captain Gladys quietly reprimanded her second-in-command.

Meyrin look out of the bridge's window, the lone CGUE lazily arc around Minerva, lining itself up on the portside hangar. The bridge crew watched as the CGUE cut off its main thrusters and use its maneuvering jets to adjust its alignment as it let Minerva's difference in momentum swallow it inside the maw of the open catapult deck.

Captain Gladys was perplexed by the pilot's unorthodox landing. Most mobile suit pilots would just barrel their way into the hangar and brake at the last second as they entered the catapult deck. She picked up the phone and called the hangar bay.

"Chief?"

"Yeah we got it. Though, I tell you whoever's that guy is one heck of a pilot. Didn't even leave a scratch on the deck as it touched down. Haven't seen one do that before. Anyway the modified CGUE's being locked down at the moment. Security's waiting for the guy to get out."

"What do you mean modified?"

"Get this, that CGUE's got Phase Shift Armor! And, is packing a MA-M21G Beam Rifle. Also I have a suspicion that the wierd protrusion on the left leg is a beam saber."

"It's a Gundam?" That statement drew a look from everybody.

"Or as close as one can get by modifying an existing mobile suit."

"Keep me posted."

"Aye."

Vivi kept her eye on the data stream coming from Minerva. 'This battle is really a mess.' Allied ZAFT were almost indistinguishable from renegade ZAFT GINNs from afar. Also the three stolen suits were adding more chaos by engaging a three-way battle between the remaining two.

"Hey, Commandy Boy" she heard him sigh in annoyance. She grinned behind her visor, "give us some covering fire."

"Affirmative"

"De Arc, you're with me. Cover my six. We're gonna do a strafing run on the GINNs."

"Copy that."

Vivi's CGUE increased its speed, raising its beam rifle as the targeting computer began picking targets of opportunity. Joan followed behind also raising her weapon and scanning the surrounding area. Saros meanwhile pulled back, firing his rifle at the GINNs ahead Vi and Joan's intended flight path. After that, he searched for a suitable overwatch position, attaching his CGUE to a floating chunk of rock big enough to cover most of the mobile suit. The data stream from Vivi's targeting computer helped him acquire targets from afar.

Athrun's ZAKU beep in alarm as an enemy mobile suit came from behind him. He turn around just in time to block the attack with the shoulder mounted shield. He aimed his rifle at the sensor array of the GINN, which is usually head of the mobile suit and blasted it away. He then systematically disabled the enemy mobile suits combat capability. He saw a green flash from afar, and within seconds, the beam went past him, several of meters away to his left. The ZAKU registered an explosion behind the mobile suit. Athrun turned to see it was a GINN, with its right arm missing. Undeterred, the pilot activated GINN's thrusters to try and tackle Athrun. Athrun raised his rifle, but before he could do anything, two plasma beams hit the head and then the upper chest in consecutive order. The GINN spiralled uncontrollably, before crashing onto Junius Seven.

Athrun looked back to where he saw the green flash, the camera zoomed in to find a silver-grey CGUE hiding behind a rock. The CGUE raised its left arm in acknowledgement. Athrun noticed that the targeting computer designated it as an ally. He tuned his attention back to the battlefield and notice Chaos gunning for one of the breaker teams and proceed to intercept the troublesome Gundam.

"De Arc, 5 o'clock high." Saros calmly informed his teammate on the squad's secure channel. Joan without missing a beat turned around, raised her rifle and let loose a volley. The Class-3 mobile suit named Abyss dodged aside, but several beams hit one of the wings, damaging it, and another scratching the right arm.

"What the-" the Abyss Pilot cried out in open channel.

Shinn, noticing the Abyss's momentary shock gunned open the Impulse's thrusters to maximum, "RAAH!" to Auel's credit, he barely missed the killing blow. Shinn only swipe the right ankle.

"It's secure!" Saros heard from the ZAFT's communication channel. He quickly located the breaker team's location as the mobile suits separated from the Meteor Breaker as it drilled through Junius Seven along with the other units. A couple of seconds later, a momentary bright flash engulfed the battlefield followed by large cracks snaking across the surface, breaking the colony into two. All the combatants in the field froze in sight of the colony breaking apart. The ZAFT comms filled with cheers at the sight. While the Gundams broke off from their opponents and stared at the colony. The GINNs meanwhile froze in shock which the CGUEs took advantage of as Vivi and Joan streak across the battlefield reducing the number of rogue ZAFT force's combat-capable mobile suits to only a dozen or so.

A stern, commanding voice cut through the ZAFT's cheers, silencing them, "We're not done yet! We need to break it into smaller pieces."

"Athrun?!" Saros was taken aback. He thought that Representative Attha's bodyguard was onboard the Minerva. He heard a muffled squeal of delight on the other end of the squad's channel.

"I'm flying with _the_ Athrun Zala!"

"Vi! Concentrate!" Joan reprimanded her partner.

"Bastard! What the hell are you doing here?!" snarled Yzak.

"That's not important right now! We must continue with our mission!"

Yzak smiled as he replied his former teammate, "Right! I know that!"

"You haven't change Yzak."

"Neither have you!"

Dearka just cracked his neck, remembering the old times. "Oh boy."

Yzak and Dearka's mobile suit took positions around Athrun's ZAKU as he carried with him a Meteor Breaker.

Saros watched as he identified Athrun's mobile as the green ZAKU he helped with earlier. From his vantage view of the battlefield, he noticed two GINNs on an intercept course to Athrun. "Vi!" he called out, "Two GINNs intercepting a Breaker unit at 8500 meters, 11 o'clock high."

"Copy!"

The GINNs fired a couple of shots at Athrun's group. Yzak and Dearka were about to break off when two well placed shots at the GINNs' thruster pods send the mobile suits at an uncontrolled spiral. Another two shots at both mobile suits engulfed them in fiery explosions.

Before Yzak or Dearka could say anything, they saw two CGUEs crossing their sights before disappearing behind a huge chunk of Junius Seven.

"Who are those guys?" Dearka asked, "they're not with the Task Force." Athrun was surprised at the revelation. He thought the CGUEs were like Team Le Cresuet.

"It doesn't matter, we have a mission to complete."

Just then, an unknown partially synthesized voice spoke through the three pilots' comm system, "Abyss, closing in at 5400 meters, 6 o'clock high!"

With out missing a beat, Athrun, Dearka, and Yzak moved out of the way as three powerful beams streak through and hit the location in front of them.

"Yzak!"

"Shut up! I'm the one in command here!" Yzak went on the Abyss's damaged right side. As Athrun distracted Auel by shooting his mobile suit on the already damaged right arm. "Stop giving orders! You damn civilian!" Yzak swung his halberd across Abyss's torso. Auel, backed away but not before the halberd cut off the mobile suits left arm and scraping across the Gundam's armored cockpit. Athrun streaked behind the Abyss and cut off its undamaged leg as he went to intercept Chaos.

Saros watched with interest as the two mobile suit aces cut apart Abyss and Chaos with excellent teamwork against a better performing machine. The Chimera squad's sniper, also noticed another set of Meteor Breakers drilling through the surface. Both Abyss and Chaos retreated away from the battlefield as the bigger piece of the colony broke into another half. The Abyss spluttered along due to the heavy accumulated damaged it took from the both the CGUEs that showed up and being hacked apart by two annoyed ZAFT aces. A thought occurred to Saros as he set his sights on the limping mobile suit.

"Dammit!" Auel punched the controls in frustration. He's going to kill that green mobile suit and the other guy too. Another punch and his mobile suit shuddered and jerked violently. It spiraled out of control. "Uurgh!" Auel tried to regain control but from what the computer's telling him, he lost his main thrusters. Also, his energy filler is almost empty with at least 10 minutes of operational time. He jerked the controls trying to see if he still has control, but to no avail.

"Sting!" Auel cried out to his teammate. "I don't have any controls of my mobile suit!" Just then, Girty Lue launched the retreat flares.

"Coming to your left." Auel heard Sting as he stared at the retreat flares and he clucked his tongue in frustration. Before Sting could reached Auel, a brilliant green streak from of a beam rifle stopped him on his tracks. "What the-" he searched where the beam came from. In the darkness of the void, he spotted a green flash of light before his mobile suit shuddered at the impact and his view replaced by static. Sting frantically weaved about trying to make himself a much harder target, but without the suit's head, he flew blindly about and crashed onto Auel's disabled Gundam.

"Sting! What the heck are you doing!" Abyss drifted farther from the flailing Gundam. "Stella! Help!"

Stella's daydreaming, if one could call it that, got interrupted by Auel's cry for help. She maneuvered her mobile suit away from the battlefield and transformed into a mobile armour. She leap from debris to debris as she came closer to Auel's drifting gundam.

"Stella! Stay back, there's a sniper somewhere here!" Sting warned the blond girl. As if on cue, a green streak of light hit the small asteroid she just landed on. The rock sprayed out dust and debris as it tumbled away. Stella quickly changed into a mobile suit and moved in an erratic manner trying to approach the disabled Gundam. However, every time she gets close, the sniper shoots in front of her.

"Stella, grab Sting and return back." The Gaia pilot heard Neo Roanoke's voice through the radio.

"Neo..." Stella backed away and grabbed Chaos's frame and blasted towards Girty Lue, and into the waiting arms of Neo.

"Stella! Sting!" Auel screamed at them through the open channel. He punched the screen in front of him, making it crack across the retreating forms of Gaia and Chaos before his mobile suit lost its main power. He shook uncontrollably before letting out a blood-curdling scream that everybody could hear on the open channel.

Saros, satisfied at his handiwork, smiled. He considered the frustrated scream of the pilot an added bonus. He turned his sights on the Unknown ship as it opened its catapult deck to receive the battered Chaos and the slightly scratched Gaia. He took aim from a great distance at the tiny speck of the battleship's exposed hangar. Even though he was inside a mobile suit, and jerkiness wasn't a factor when shooting. Saros slowed his heartbeat and held his breath as he pulled the trigger and let loose a green bolt as a parting gift for the retreating EA forces. He followed the beam as it made its way to its target.

Neo Roanoke was less than pleased at losing one of the stolen Gundams. The pain would be less if it was destroyed, but curse that sniper. He appreciated its strategy, using an age-old technique of luring, but being on the receiving end only ended up as annoying him.

"Have you located the sniper's position?"

"Negative, the debris around here makes it nearly impossible to pinpoint its location." Neo narrowed his eyes behind the mask as he caught a glimpse of a green flash. He's brain worked into overdrive on why the sniper would target this ship. As far as the battle went, the sniper's weapon isn't graded to pierce through anti-beam laminated battleship-grade hulls. Neo's eyes wandered at the catapult deck extending out to receive the Gundams; his eyes widen as realization fell upon him.

"Evasive Maneuvers! Hard to Starboard! Now!"

To the helmsman's credit, he didn't flinch at the sudden outburst and jerked the helm hard to starboard. The captain also gulped in nervousness as he came to the same conclusion. Slowly, the Girty Lue swiveled a few degrees to the right before the beam clipped Chaos and splashed harmlessly onto battleship-grade hull. Everybody on bridge relaxed believing it to be over.

"Activate Gottfried and blast that sniper into oblivion."

"Acquiring targeting solution. Target acquired!"

"Fire!" The captain raised his right hand. Three Gottfried turrets turned their turrets and fired a volley of green lances at the sniper's location.

Saros turned around just in time to see his previous hiding spot got blasted into space dust as he drifted towards his next hiding spot, this time it was a part of a damaged solar array. He turned his attention back from harassing the Unknown ship to the battlefield 'below' him.

* * *

Lieutenant Ran opened his cockpit and was greeted by the ship's waiting security personnel, their weapons pointed his way. Behind the reflective visor, Ran smiled. He tilted his head forward to acknowledge their presence before turning around and locking the mobile suit's cockpit.

"Can't be too careful nowadays." He said to the engineers floating behind the security personnel much to their visible displeasure. "If you're willing to try and hack the lock, go ahead. It rated as a Class-10." He pulled out his sidearm, which the guards immediately tensed up and raised their weapons. Ran offered it to them with the dangerous end pointed away from them. "And, if you're desperate to try and cut you're way through," he paused and shrugged not saying anything more. "Now, take me to the Chief Representative of Orb." The engineers, now wary about that unspoken bit, edged away from the mobile suit.

Cagalli watched as the battle unfolded before her eyes. Before the mysterious CGUEs arrived, the battle seemed to be in a stalemate between the three factions. The ZAFT's breaker team kept being interrupted by rogue GINNs, while the ZAFT forces try to keep them at bay. In the meantime, the stolen gundams wreck havoc all across the battlefield.

Since the CGUEs entered the battlefield, the battle tipped towards the ZAFT's favor. The reaction of the bridge crew of the Minerva were perplexed to say the least. Captain Gladys remained compose, albeit relieved to have such capable force fighting at their side. Also, she kept a wary eye on the mysterious guest pilot. From the reports she received, the phase shift armour and a couple of weapons were not the only upgrades his mobile suit received. It also got top-notch security against hacking, and the implied protection against forceful entry. The pilot also didn't remove his helmet upon leaving the hangar, creating a stir amongst the inexperienced crew members.

Meyrin in the CIC watched and listened with a mixture of awe and horror as the CGUEs tore through the battlefield. Among the chatter of the ZAFT forces, she could hear a partially synthesized voice giving out warnings to various ZAFT mobile suits. It was always the position of the clock hand, either 'high' or 'low'. Or, a simple 'above' or 'below' along with estimated distance. She tried to pinpoint the sniper's location through the radio, but the debris bounced off the signal, echoing around. Then, it click as to why the sniper CGUE chose the dangerous debris field to hide. It was the same principle Bogey-1 used a day ago, masking its signal to essentially disappear off the radar. The only way for somebody to locate the CGUE is when it fired its weapon or somebody actively hunting it inside the debris field. Even then, it was difficult to spot the sniper. As how a flight of GINNs discovered when they tried to enter the dense debris field.

Four of the seven GINNs were shot down as they approached the debris field. The remaining three had a hard time maneuvering through as they check each nook and cranny. Each one jumping on stray shadows, firing wildly breaking up more debris and creating sensor blind spots. One of the GINNs got impaled by a heavy sword that came out of nowhere creating a bright explosion that lengthen the shadows around. Saros used the momentary brightness to fire a shot behind another GINN. This created another explosion as the green lance pierce through the mobile suit's torso. He then, unsheathed his beam saber and slashed the last remaining GINN, cutting the mobile suit from the waist down. Meyrin then heard an odd statement through the ZAFT communication channel. She believed the pilot forgot to switch channels

"Now, where did that sword go." It dawn to her that the pilot of the CGUE was a veritable expert in debris combat in stark contrast from her sister's dismal performance.

Meyrin caught the tail-end of the discussion concerning Bogey-1's involvement in Junius Seven. "Meyrin," Captain Gladys looked at her, "send this message through the IRC, make sure that Bogey-1 gets the message."

"Yes, Captain."

The door to the bridge opened revealing the security personnel that escorted the IMC pilot. "Captain, we bought you the pilot." The security personnel moved aside, revealing the pilot wearing a bulky bright white flight suit.

"Welcome aboard the Minerva, I'm sorry for not greeting you earlier." Captain Gladys greeted the guest.

Ran saluted the Captain, "no need to worry, you have a situation in your hands at the moments." He looked the person on his right and recognized him as Chairman Durandal of the PLANT government. "Chairman" he gave curt nod at the leader of PLANT. Chairman Durandal eyed the Lieutenant critically.

"You and your squad's timing is impeccable lieutenant. On behalf of PLANT, I thank you for your assistance."

"Hn" Ran replied to the Chairman. He, then, looked at Cagalli, "Chief Representative. I'm glad you are unharmed" the lieutenant saluted the leader of Orb. "I am Lieutenant Ianius Ran, Chimera Squad, IMC. Here to give you this and provide detail protection until you reach Orb." Ran reached inside one of the more protected pockets design to house mission critical items and handed it over to the young woman. Cagalli, accepted the heavy box and tried to open it. Ran stopped her by placing his gloved hand over and shook his head. "Not now, Chief Representative opened it in a secure place."

"O-okay" Cagalli handed the box back to the lieutenant, "Give me this later when we're secure."

"Yes, ma'am." Ran put the box backed into the same secure pocket.

The curiosity of the bridge crew plus Durandal broke when one of the crew cried out, "Bogey-1 has fired its flares!"

Meyrin watched from her console as the three stolen gundams tried to retreat back to their ship. Apparently, the sniper CGUE had other ideas as it crippled the Abyss just seconds before the signal flares from Bogey-1 were fired. Chaos tried to helped out but suddenly jerked haphazardly and inadvertently hit the crippled Abyss. Gaia tried to get to the crippled gundam, but was always stop, when finally Gaia grabbed Chaos and gunned back towards their ship, leaving Abyss standed in space. The scream of the pilot echoing through out the open channel.

"Minerva," Meyrin leaned forward and grasped her headset tightly, as she heard the same voice speaking directly to her, "one of your stolen mobile is available for retrieval."

"Captain!" Meyrin turned towards the Captain, "A-Abyss is crippled and disabled!"

"Captain! This is a good time to retrieve one of the gundams!" Arthur exclaimed. Talia put her thumb and index finger under her chin as she thought through it. Altitude was nearing the danger zone and the call for retreat has already been passed out. Lunamaria's damaged Zaku was already on final approach, which left Shinn and Rey to retrieve the mobile suit.

"Meyrin, tell Rey and Shinn to retrieve Abyss before its too late." Meyrin nodded in acknowledgement and turned around to face her console.

Vivi and Joan kept up the CAP even though the ZAFT forces were retreating. Only a few more enemy mobile suits were left. The GINNs were concentrating on the few remaining ZAFT mobile suits that were doing last minute deployment on the remaining meteor breakers.

"Vi! We need to split up. We only have less than two minutes before we hit atmo!" Joan heard Vi breath out a curse. Vi scanned the surface and found a few meteor breakers lying on their sides.

"De Arc you grab a breaker I'll grab another. Commandy Boy! Cover us!"

The sniper CGUE after more than half an hour of hiding, finally appeared solidly on radar. It made a beeline straight towards Junius Seven's cracked surface firing at a rapid pace. Captain Gladys noticed the CGUEs were not breaking off. He turned towards Lieutenant Ran, "Lieutenant, I know I can't order your squad but, are they going to fall back to Minerva?"

"Where's your communication console?"

"Right, here sir" Meyrin slightly raised her hand. Ran floated towards the young communications officer's station.

"Is this tuned to your battlenet" asked Ran as Meyrin handed him a microphone. She was confused at the term he had given. If he meant ZAFT's combat frequency, she nodded in affirmation. "Squad, Status?"

A partially synthesized voice of a girl spoke through, "Setting up the last of the Meteor Breakers. Chimera 20 is providing cover to a single Class-two mobile suit at the moment."

"Minerva will be firing its main armament, can you return on time?" There was a slight paused, where only a whispered breathing can be heard.

"Unknown." On the screen Junius Seven further broke apart into smaller pieces.

Athrun saw the huge crack that spread out through the surfaced and decided to get out of dodge, only less than five minutes left before Junius Seven entered earth's atmosphere.

"This is Athrun, returning to-" a loud beep interrupted him. He turned around to find a GINN gunning for him. The ZAKU, nimbly dodge and blasted its head with a single shot. The rest of the GINNs converged on his position. The beep constantly sounded as he tried to dodged all of the concentrated firepower. One shot destroyed his rifle and was now forced to fight with the ZAKU's axe. He heard one of the pilot started to incoherently preach on the open channel. Before he could hear anything more, two silver blurs cut the GINNs with beam sabers with the remaining two destroyed by well-placed shots to their torsos. The CGUEs stood over the him.

"You alright?" Vi asked while keeping her voice steady through the open channel.

"Yeah, thanks for the assist."

"157 seconds till atmo, better gun it back to Minerva." The CGUEs hightailed towards Minerva with Athrun trailing behind the two while the CGUE that carried an abnormally long beam rifle who he recognized earlier flew right beside him.

"Athrun and the Chimera squad are approaching Minerva!" Cagalli's face visibly relaxed at the news.

"Anybody else on Junius Seven?" The Ensign Heim look closely on his console.

"No, Captain. The colony is all-clear of friendlies."

"Ensign Yi, Ready the Tannhauser!"

Lunamaria Hawke gawked at the sight of the mutilated gundam securely strapped to the hangar deck. A security force escorted the pilot as he trashed about and screaming curses.

"What- How?" Vino looked at Lunamaria and followed her gazed towards the damaged Gundam.

"Shinn and Rey bought it back."

"Did Shinn do this?" Lunamaria motioned at the gundam. She remembered Shinn engaged the aforementioned mobile suit. Vino shrugged.

"You have to asked Shinn about that."

"Clear the deck!" Everybody scrambled out of the way, knowing a mobile suit was landing. Lunamaria looked around to see that the green ZAKU that guy piloted is currently missing. A smiled tugged the edge of her lips. However, her expectation was off the mark as a silver CGUE slid silently into position on the starboard catapult deck. Seconds later, another CGUE landed on the portside deck. The deck crew, without even missing a beat, hurried to move the mobile suits out of the way and securely fastened the suits for planetary re-entry.

"Clear!"

Lunamaria finally saw Athrun's ZAKU landing. The green mobile suit was slightly battered and worse for wear, its rifle missing. The whole ship shuddered slightly. What was that, she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted when another CGUE landed on the portside deck. This CGUE carried a different armament from the other two. She didn't recognized the weapon's silhouette from any of the hand books and the length of the weapon was longer than her ZAKU's beam cannon.

Athrun opened his cockpit and was about to unlock his harness when the intercom came to life. "Stay on your suits we're on Phase two of re-entry." Opposite of his mobile suit, the last CGUE was securely fastened, the mobile suit was still powered, its red 'eye' moving slowly, watching everything inside the hangar.

"Fire!" The Positron Beam Cannon blasted the chunk of rock into a million pieces.

"Recharging!" Ensign Chen Zheng Yi loudly spoke through the noise.

"Ten seconds till Phase-3." Ensign Malik Yardbirds, helmsman, informed the rest of the bridge crew.

Little did the crew of Minerva know, their trajectory would take them to the worse possible area to be a ZAFT battleship.

Shift 02 End


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs in this story and probably the story idea? (shrugs)

GSD: Shifting Shadows

Shift 03: Under the Light Show

Lunamaria walked towards Athrun as he zip down from the Zaku. "You lived up to your legend." The ace pilot just stared at her in silence. Lunamaria, undeterred pressed on. "So, do you know anything about those." She tipped her head at one of the CGUEs. "From what I heard, their leader met up with Ms. Cagalli."

"What?" Athrun halted his steps to look at Lunamaria.

"I take it from your expression, they're not some sort of ORB special forces." Athrun shook his head at her statement.

"I thought they were another ZAFT task force." The chatter from personnel in the hangar hushed as the three CGUEs open their cockpit hatches. Lunamaria move to get closer to one of the CGUEs, her curiosity peaked. The first thing she notice about the pilots are the reflective visors. The orange glint is noticeable even from far away. The next thing is the pilot suits they wore. Unlike ZAFT or Earth Alliance pilot suits which were colored according to the faction's colors and the design contours to the pilots body to make movement easier, their suits are bulky and bright white. The design, from her perspective, is reminiscent of humanity's early space suit during the Space Race.

Athrun studied the pilots of the as they just stayed near their perspective cockpits. It was difficult to measure the pilots with their visors in the way. The way the two of the pilots move, however, showed them to be females of a young age probably around 15 to 19 years old. The third pilot is definitely a male and probably reads plenty of books from how he produced a book out his suit's pocket.

The whole hangar waited for the unknown pilots to zip down and introduced themselves, but the three pilots just stayed at the ramp. Lunamaria, the ever confident and curious one, shouted at them, "Aren't you guys gonna come down?" She stepped closer, "Don't be shy! Come down and say 'hi'. I promise we won't bite" Lunamaria verbally jabbed at them. One of the pilots laughed boisterously, while the other tilted her head at the laughing pilot. The third one, merely lowered his book by a fraction.

"Sorry, Pinky. Can't do. Standing orders you see." Lunamaria spluttered at the 'Pinky' remark while the engineers just snickered.

"Athrun!" Cagalli ran towards her bodyguard, barely restraining herself from giving him a very tight hug. "I'm glad you're okay."

Athrun smiled at her and replied, "Yeah." He noticed an imposing figure wearing the same outfit as the rest of the CGUE pilots. The pilot stepped up from behind Cagalli and extended his hand.

"You must be Alex Dino, Lieutenant Ianius Ran, IMC, Chimera Squad" said the man in a baritone voice, noticeable even with the voice synthesizer. Athrun clasp at the offered hand.

"Athrun will do, lieutenant." He raised an eyebrow as he continued, "IMC? I never heard of them before."

"We just like to keep it that way" he lightheartedly said.

"Lieutenant, if you don't mind me asking" Cagalli spoke up, "aren't you going to remove your helmet?"

"Oh right," he clasped his helmet and turned it. A loud hiss followed as the suit depressurized. Revealing a pale white, clean-shaven man of around 30 years with charcoal wavey hair that just reach past his chin.

"What about them?" Lunamaria butted in, pointing at the CGUE pilots. Ran looked at them and nodded.

"Finally!" Vi removed her helmet, revealing a pale white head. She shook her chin-length pale blond hair to un-stick them from her sweaty skin. She inhaled the air and commented, "Smells new." Vivi trained her deep blue eyes at her squadmates, "Well? He said it's fine." She hook the helmet on her hand and zipped down to the hangar deck, but not before locking her mobile suit up. Joan and Saros locked their mobile suits before following after Vivi.

The three pilots lined up before Cagalli and gave her a salute. "Please, no need for that" said Cagalli as she motioned them to lower their hands. The blond one grinned and swiftly lowered her hand and extended it towards the young leader.

"Vivian Onatis, IMC, Chimera Squad, Callsign 'Eighteen'" Cagalli clasped her hand and found it surprisingly firm.

"Uh..." Before she could say anything, Vivi let go and stepped back. Joan took her hand.

"Joan Watson, IMC, Chimera Squad, Callsign 'Seventeen'. It's nice to finally meet the one they called the Lioness of Orb." She said to her with professionalism and let go of her hand. Joan and Vivi send a mild glare to their third teammate who stood a step behind them. The said young man sigh in resignation and stepped forward to shake Cagalli's hand.

"Um. Saros Graves, IMC, Chimera Squad, Callsign 'Twenty'. Uh..." He paused before nervously adding, "N-nice to meet you."

"Uh- I-" Cagalli fumbled her words before finally saying, "Thanks for you're timely help" and cheerfully smiled at them. The three pilots nodded in appreciation.

"Squad," Ran called attention to his subordinates, "guard the representative while I talked to the Captain about getting us quarters for the duration of our stay."

"Sir!" The three pilots saluted at the retreating form of their squad leader.

Athrun stood next to Cagalli, "Thanks for the assist." Vivi squealed as she found out who spoke.

"You're Athrun Zala!" Joan and Saros each immediately grab Vivi's shoulders to stop her from smothering the poor unsuspecting pilot with something akin to hero worship.

"Ah, yes." Athrun replied with bewilderment. Vivi excitedly patted her pockets looking for something. She look at Saros with a serious expression.

"I know you have a pen on you. Hand it over." Saros not wanting to deal with his slightly troublesome teammate, surrendered his pen. Vivi gladly grabbed the pen as well as swiping Saros's book. "Can you sign this! Please!"

Athrun, overwhelmed by the blond's hyperactivity, numbly grabbed the book and pen and signed the first page of the book, not realizing the book's title nor its content.

Saros fingers twitched at his precious charm being vulgarized. He needed to do something and soon. Joan look back and found the sharpshooter going through something akin to a mental break down. Athrun handed the book and pen back to Vivi's awaiting hands. Joan intercepted the handoff and tossed the said book back to its owner. Saros fumblingly caught the book and sighed in relief. He gave Joan a grateful look before pocketing the book back to its safe haven.

"Hey!" Vivi angrily glared at Joan for stealing her precious book that had Athrun Zala's autograph. Joan pointedly look at her with one brow raised. "Fine" she defeatedly replied.

Lunamaria courageously stepped up and spoke to the three interesting pilots. "I'm Lunamaria Hawke, pilot of the Red Zaku over there" she pointed at her one-legged mobile suit.

"Hey, Pinky." Vivi recognized her by her weird hair color that most coordinators are known for. "Vivian Onatis" she extended her hand, "you already know that though. Call me Vi or Vivi. I don't know why my parents decided to name me Vivian." Lunamaria ignored her new nickname and shook her hand.

"So, what does IMC stand for?" Lunamaria asked, hoping to know who these skilled pilots are. Vivi smirked at her.

"IMC is IMC and we like to keep it that way." Lunamaria, nonplussed at her blatant disregard of giving a suitable answer, changed her line of inquiry.

"Are you a part of ZAFT?"

Vi answered cheerfully with a single flippant word, "Nope!"

Lunamaria asked as she narrowed her eyes at Vivi, "Where did you get the CGUEs?"

Vi's smirked widened and answered, "If I tell you, I have to kill you" and gave her a wink.

While the ZAFT elite pilot and blond IMC pilot verbally sparred with each other, Joan turned her green eyes at her charge. "Anywhere would you like to go, Ms. Attha?" Cagalli slightly jumped at her question. Even though she was Orb's head of state, she wasn't used to having an escort, save for Athrun for obvious reason.

"Would you rather rest? That was quite an ordeal to go through." She said to the two pilots in front of her.

"As nice as that is, Ms. Cagalli, our mission is to provide protection until you're back to Orb. Even inside this ZAFT battleship, someone is bound to have some sort animosity toward you." Joan noticed the visible winced from the chief representative and Athrun mouth curled slightly downward. Joan slightly narrowed her eyes and eyed every ZAFT crew in her vicinity. Saros taking her cue, reached inside one of his the pockets containing his sidearm and loosely held it in his hand.

Cagalli noticed Joan's change in demeanor and waved her hands in front of her. "It- It's not like that. Not at all!"

"Ms. Cagalli, as long as you are within the protection of Chimera Squad, anyone that comes near you with ill intentions will be dealt with 'accordingly'." Cagalli gulped at Joan's statement.

"I hope you consider warning him first before you do anything more drastic." Athrun stated to the young woman trying to curb the initial reaction of implied bodily harm to something less of a bloody affair. "He has a grudge on Orb and anything that is connected to Orb."

"Duly noted." Athrun was slightly taken aback by the sadistic smirk she gave before it disappeared without a trace from her pale white but composed face. "So, who is it."

Athrun was quiet for a moment, debating on whether to give up the name of the young gundam pilot. He can protect Cagalli from most things, but he can't protect her from the barb words of the pilot and his hatred for Orb and specifically Cagalli. Every time the two clash verbally, he chipped away at Cagalli's fragile confidence at keeping her late father's wish. He tightened his fist and with a whispered voice deprived of any emotion, uttered a name.

"Shinn Asuka"

Meanwhile back in the bridge...

"Arthur, re-check our trajectory." Captain Gladys calmly spoke to her first officer. However, behind her calm facade, she was genuinely worried when Minerva's radar operator first reported their new trajectory after they fired the ship's positron beam cannon several times.

Arthur went over his console and pulled up the ship's navigation data and began checking the Ensign Heim's work. He winced when it came up to the same conclusion. "Captain," he look at Captain Gladys with a somber expression and shook his head.

"Ensign Heim, find us a better location and fast. I don't want to take Minerva into somewhere we are unwelcome.

"I'll try Captain." The ensign nodded to her before going back to his console and calculate a new trajectory before their options dwindle down. On his console, Minerva's current trajectory would lead them smack-dabbed in the middle of the Atlantic Federation just over spitting distance from Detroit.

Shinn Asuka, pilot of the Impulse watch most of the hangar personnel linger around the new pilots. He heard the engineers discuss about how it was possible for CGUEs to be outfitted by phase shift armour.

"It's got to be a new mobile suit that just look like a CGUE!" said one of the engineers.

"If it is, why make it look like a CGUE. Why add only a MA-MG21 beam rifle from a GuAIZ and a beam saber?"

"The time it takes to repupose a mobile suit is by far greater than building new one. It's more economical in term of man power to build a new mobile suit."

"If only we can look at its Cockpit Operating System."

"Fat chance at that. I heard from one of guys that the mobile suit is protected by something called a 'class-10 lock'. Vino even tried to connect his laptop and unlock the cockpit. Guess what, his laptop got fried." One of the engineers whistled in awe.

"Shinn." The young pilot turned around to find Rey, still in his pilot suit, coming out of the elevator.

"Rey." Rey stood beside Shinn and watch the commotion below. "What do you think about those pilots?"

"They are skilled in Zero Gravity Combat and they have excellent teamwork. To gauge their skills outside of outright challenging them, we need to look at the combat data." Shinn nodded in agreement. The pilots each shook the Orb representative's hand. "It looks like they are here for Representative Attha." Shinn tightened his gripped on the rails and narrowed his eyes at Cagalli. One of the pilots, the black-haired one with a bob cut hair snapped her head towards his direction.

Joan instinctively snapped her head at the catways. Several people were milling about, with most of them wearing a two-toned green jumpsuit. What got her attention were the two people wearing the red pilot suit the same as the one who calls herself Lunamaria. One was a girlish-looking boy with a blond hair covering one eye and reached just past his shoulder. She assumed as he lacked ample breasts, well if not, she's malnourished which is kind of sad. What got her attention was the boy beside the long-haired one. The wild-haired boy stared at her general direction, specifically glaring at Cagalli. Instinctively, she thought he was the one Athrun talked about.

* * *

Captain Gladys studied their new trajectory when the bridge doors opened and admitted a rather imposing figure wearing a familiar white suit.

"Captain." Ran saluted Talia Gladys. She was surprised that she didn't noticed his baritone voice before.

"You must be the Lieutenant." Gladys saluted back at the pilot. She studied him for a second before continuing "I'm afraid I can't talk right now, lieutenant."

Ran stance didn't shift given his experience during IMC's extrasolar activities and the subsequent incident that nearly eradicated the entire IMC expeditionary fleet. "Problem?"

Talia decided to inform of the lieutenant of her and her ship's predicament. "Ensign, put our current course and the new plotted course on screen." The screen showed Minerva's current and the new plotted trajectory. "As you can see, we will be landing in the Atlantic Federation territory."

"And their hatred for anything 'Coordinator' is well-known." Ran frowned, "The debris from Junius Seven should mask this ship's presence. What's the time there right now?"

"4:04 AM." Ran nodded at the Ensign.

"Making a landing in one of the Great Lakes should be a good choice as long as this ship is capable of making a water landing."

Captain Gladys decided to go ahead with the new plotted course, glad to have a second opinion on her decision. "Helmsman, change course to 345! Meyrin inform the crew to prepare for a water landing." She turned around to face the lieutenant. "Thanks for the help, lieutenant. Now, is there something I can do for you?"

"I'll tell you later Captain, you need to concentrate on making our landing survivable first." Talia smiled at him.

"Of course. If you could take a seat."

"Thanks, Captain." Ran took one of the 'guest' seat where Cagalli sat during the Junius Seven incident.

Reports of the damage from the now called "Break the World" incident filled all stations reporting all around the world. The projected damage from earlier models didn't reflect the actual damage cause. Analysts were surprised by the fact that most pieces burned up on re-entry with only the remaining larger portions slowly disintegrating before most of it plunging into the ocean and creating tsunamis. One of the largest pieces actually broke up and send millions of deadly debris around the equator.

With Earth's airspace filled with debris, Earth Alliance radar system are overwhelmed to the point that most Radar Operator opted to just watch the light show, or ignore their radar consoles. Under the light show of Junius Seven, Minerva aligned itself to Lake Ontario lengthwise. On 4:12 AM under the still clear wintery sky of the northern hemisphere, the ZAFT Battleship Minerva landed on the freezing waters of Lake Ontario. The wake it created is blamed by observers as a stray debris from the burning colony.

Shift 03 End


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs in this story and probably the story idea? (shrugs)

GSD: Shifting Shadows

Shift 04: Reason and Doubt

The Minerva shuddered as it skimmed the surface of Lake Ontario. Meyrin held on for dear life as Ensign Yardbirds kept the ship's course steady throughout the rocky endeavor. The look on the captain's face showed a grim determination as the ship didn't show any signs of slowing down. Suddenly, a loud bang echoed throughout the whole ship.

"Arthur, report!"

"No leaks to the hull, Captain." Slowly, this ship's nose started to descent and after a minute of heart-pounding inaction, Minerva is finally a fully-fledged sea going vessel.

Captain Gladys grabbed the phone headset on her command chair and contacted the Hangar Bay. "Chief?"

"About the bang?" she heard the chief, "That was the Abyss. One of the harnesses snapped."

"Any significant damage on the ship?"

"A few scratches that can be painted over, nothing serious."

"How about the Abyss, can it be repaired?" The man on the other side of the line quieted down.

"It could be done, we can use one of Impulse's spare legs to repair the Abyss' legs and certainly the arm can be repaired in a few days. However, the right 'wing' unit might take at least a week, maybe more to repair. We don't have many spare parts as it is."

Gladys nodded thoughtfully, she knew the consequence of launching prematurely. It can't be helped now. Hopefully, they wouldn't face any more opposition until they reach Gibraltar Base. More of a prayer than anything. "Keep me posted."

"Will do, Captain." Talia placed the headset back to its proper place and gazed at the helmsman.

"Helmsman, what's our course?"

"51 degrees, slowing down to 10 knots, Captain."

Captain Gladys nodded and turned around to face her guest. "Now Lieutenant, what can I do for you?"

"My squad needs quarters, across Representative Attha's would be ideal." Talia stood up and look at her second-in-command.

"Arthur, you have the bridge and Meyrin, lower our alert level to green."

"Yes, Captain." Both Arthur and Meyrin saluted their Captain.

"Come, lieutenant. I'll personally see to it with the quartermaster" the bridge doors opened as both the captain and the lieutenant stepped inside the elevator.

"Much appreciated, Captain Gladys."

After Talia personally oversaw that Chimera Squad had two rooms, one across, the representative's cabin and one just beside it. Ran thank the captain for her hospitality and went about to meet up with the rest of his squad accompanying Cagalli and her bodyguard to give the representative the mission disk in question.

Minerva, inside Representative Attha's accommodation.

Cagalli lowered herself onto one of the room's chairs and Athrun took the other one. The young politician looked apprehensively as the rest of Chimera Squad marched in. The two young women stood beside the only door in and out of the room. The blond one leaned against the wall with one foot supporting her weight while the other latch on the wall. The black haired one crossed her arms around her chest, a small frown plastered on her face. The one with an impaired vision stood to the side, trying to make himself as irrelevant as possible. He pulled out a book and began flipping the pages.

"So, lieutenant" Cagalli started, focusing on Ran. "What is this you wanted me to see?" Ran gazed at the computer, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly.

"Excuse me," Athrun moved his chair aside as the watch the older man booted up the device. "Hmm, Saros. Toss me the 'stick'"

"Uuh, which one?"

"The one with Shen's nifty little OS in it." the young man fumbled his pockets until he produced slim black rectangular data storage device. With a slow underhand throw, the small object sailed through the air and Ran caught it with one hand. He gave it a quick glance before he plugged it. Though Cagalli couldn't see it, Athrun had a clear view of what happened next.

The shape of the plug-in of the black device might look the same at a first glance. On a closer look, it was wider than average. A red intermittent light appeared from within the device and after a few seconds, the connector changed shape to accommodate the port in question. This truly raised some question for Athrun. Who are these people that they do not use a universal connection port and had to have a special 'adapter' just to use them.

On the screen, the usual sky blue screen of the desktop background abruptly flashed into an inky black one. Seconds later, lines and lines of gibberish quickly scrolled up. Both Cagalli and Athrun recognized it as boot up of a computer operating system. If Kira was in the room with them, he would quickly infer that it was probably a home-brewed original OS, and not a variation of a well-known open source OS floating around the net.

Within a few scant seconds, a plain soft teal screen greeted the onlookers with a white box and a blinking indicator at its center. The lieutenant typed in the password, too fast for Cagalli to clearly memorized. Athrun, however, quietly mouth the password, 'Vigilo Confido'. It was clearly Latin in nature, but he have to ask Cagalli the meaning behind it.

Ran fished out the mission critical disk housed inside its protective box from his pocket and extended it towards the representative. "Here you go, Miss Attha." Cagalli reached out before stopping herself and gazed directly at the lieutenant.

"I have a feeling, I'm not going to like what's inside of this box."

"If what I think I know is what inside it, then probably yes. You will certainly not like what's inside. Like a Pandora's Box of sorts." Cagalli gave the black box an apprehensive look. She was torn between curiosity and caution. From the steady gaze the lieutenant is giving her, her only choice if it was ever a choice for her to begin with was to take the thing and open it. She closed her hand around the said box, decision made, and held it in front of her. With her other hand, she flipped the cover of the box open, revealing a small reflective disk sitting safely on its cushion.

Gingerly, she reached for the disk. All eyes in the room were focused on the small object. Athrun furrowed his brow as to what kind of information is inside the disk that necessitates the need to send a small elite team of mobile suit pilots to accompany it to its recipient.

Once the disk slid into the computer, a pitch-black window encompassed the entire screen. In an instant, a bright blue light flash to life, revealing a silhouetted man. Only the edge of his face is visible.

"Hello, Chief Representative" the voice addressed her in a somewhat deep gravely tone. "The Council of Nations we once knew is no more. Which leaves the entirety of mankind in a very difficult situation." Cagalli and Athrun gave each other a glance. "For a few years, we've watched as the home world is wash aflame with unfounded hate and discrimination. Using the technology bestowed by the Council to prepare for what is to come, twisted into another arsenal for us to wage war against one another instead of looking outward into the vast expanse."

The lieutenant quirked his mouth slightly. If he didn't know better, he'd say the commander relished being the mysterious, shadowy, gravelly-voiced guy for a change. He cocked his head towards the son of the shadowy, gravelly-voiced man and found his face blocked by the ever-present book. Judging by his tense posture, he's probably really, really embarrassed right now.

"The truth of the matter is, we are not alone and humanity is ill prepared for the coming storm." The silhouetted man is replaced by an image of an asteroid with a station attached to its surface. "This is 10024 Tanis. An M-type asteroid with mining, processing stations and habitats already completed. As a gesture of friendship, we will give you and your country this resourcing station to any point in space of your choosing, free of charge. In turn, I hope your country is amiable with the thought of an alliance between our two factions in the foreseeable future."

"Once, you've reach Orb. The lieutenant has with him a means to contact myself directly. For now, you can direct all your questions to him. Understand, he cannot give you all the answers as he is bound by my orders not to reveal all sensitive information. I look forward to your call, Chief Representative." The screen blinked out of existence as the video ended.

For a minute, silence reined in the room as both parties held their tongue. One in anticipation of the countless questions, and the other trying to wrap their minds around some of the wordings the shadowy entity let slip either accidentally, or deliberately. Mostly it was the fact, this person, which the two hypothesized to be the leader of IMC, casually offered Cagalli and, by extension, Orb a furnished resource satellite as a gift in exchange for a chance of an alliance.

The Chief Representative in her, however novice, felt something seems suspicious about such an extravagant gift. No one on either Earth or in Space would willingly hand over something such as that without some hefty strings attached.

"Well," The lieutenant finally broke the stillness in the room "I was terribly wrong about the contents of the disk." He gave an easy smile to the two. "So? Any questions? Inquiries? Or, a plain old 'this can't be true'?"

Cagalli gave the blank screen a quick glance before staring at Ran's face with full concentration, "Who's the man in the shadows?"

"That would be the Commander. The de facto leader of IMC."

"Does he have a proper name other than 'Commander'?" Cagalli huffed and cross her arms across her chest. Vivi smirked and opened her mouth to respond but the lieutenant beat her to it.

"That would be considered a classified information, Ms. Attha. I'm afraid I cannot answer that." Vivi gave everybody in the room a pout.

Cagalli change her line of inquiry "The offer your commander gave, the resource satellite, is it true?"

"Yes. It's already primed for deployment. All we need are the spatial coordinates to where you want it placed and probably have some of your experts vet the place; just in case our building codes doesn't match your building codes."

"What's the catch?" The young woman scrutinized the tall man, "No one is willing to offer such a thing without some kind of hefty price attached to it."

"It is what it is, Ms. Attha. We're not scheming an 'Odysseus' over you or the rest of Orb. We need all the allies we can get and HiCo saw Orb as an ideal starting point due to its long standing foreign policy, and not to mentions its considerably higher than average technological base compared to the rest of the Neutral States."

"This alliance, does it relate to what something your commander mentioned as a 'coming storm'?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the lieutenant, "Are you suggesting someone or something is coming from outside the solar system? Are you thinking some kind of alien invasion fleet is enroute to Earth to attack us?" Silence followed her question as the seconds' tick on "Well?"

"Ms. Attha" Ran heave a small breath and spoke with solid conviction "That's what the projections indeed say will likely happen."

"An alien invasion!?" She threw her hands up in the air, disbelief visibly coloring her voice. "You can't be serious! What evidence do you have to support such a ridiculous claim? This sounds more like some kind of lunatic's conspiracy theory more than anything else right now."

The good lieutenant tried hard not to point to someone as a likely evidence. As it will be considered a ridiculous claim to begin with and a poor form of convincing the young politician otherwise. "I have none with me at the moment. The Commander can provide you with more information once we've reach Orb." Ran noticed the skepticism plastered on her face, "As hard as it is to believe Ms. Attha, the first shots have already been fired before the change to the Cosmic Era calendar even took place."

Cagalli searched for something that would make this an elaborate joke in the lieutenant's eyes. All she ever found was a conviction that his words ring true. She looked behind the man to peek at the rest of the squad's reaction. Joan stared right back at her with a placid face while Vivi, for once since they've met, have a dark look on her. She couldn't decipher the bookish pilot's reaction since he's hidden his face.

With Cagalli's state of mind currently incapacitated, Athrun leaned forward from his chair, resting his elbows on each of his knee, and clasped both of his hands together. "If I may ask again, lieutenant. Who, or what is IMC?"

Ran look at Athrun for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "IMC is," He started, rubbing the back of his neck "well, we're an independent faction with former ties to the now defunct United Nations." Athrun frowned at the information, "It would not be farfetched to say that we are all what's left of the old guard not annexed into Earth Alliance's OMNI Enforcers."

Cagalli, snapped back from her brief stupor, jumped at the discrepancy. "But, the man mentioned 'Council of Nations', not the United Nations. Why is that? What's the difference between the two?"

Ran frowned slightly, trying hard to come up with a suitable explanation without giving more information than he already spilled. "The United Nation is the overall governing body while the Council of Nations is an oversight committee of select member nations which used to oversee IMC operations."

Before the two could pressed for more information, a knock on the door interrupted them. Joan and Vivi each stood next to each other, almost shoulder to shoulder, as the door slid open.

Lunamaria, already back to wearing her ZAFT Red uniform, shuffled a step or two as two white suits covered most of her field of view, baffled. "Uh…" She didn't notice before that being stared down dispassionately by two ladies in their bulky armor-like suits would be quite intimidating. The skirt-wearing pilot raised her hands in semi-mock surrender "I give up?" almost squeaking the last part.

"Oh," Vivi dropped her glare and smirked, "it's just Pinky."

"Ms. Hawke" Joan nodded at her in recognition. "Can we help you with something?"

"Hey, Luna. What's going on?" Shinn's familiar voice floated over to them.

"Ah, Shinn!" She waved one of her still raised hand at him, motioning him over. "You haven't met these guys yet, am I right?" The young man with disheveled hair, who sipped a juice box in one hand, slowly walked his way over. He eyed with suspicion the two new guests blocking the room's entry way with a frown, which is unfortunate for the young man in question.

Vi did a once over of the new visitor and decidedly smirked at the pout-like frown the child in question showed. "Turn that frown upside down, kiddo. You'll live longer" Shinn glared at the blond.

"Who you calling a kid." He stepped forward aggressively, looking up at the blond who was a head taller than him.

"Ah, Vivi." Luna pulled her friend by latching both of her hands on his shoulders. She, then, put herself between the two to prevent Shinn from being more confrontational. "This is Shinn Asuka, pilot of the Impulse and a good friend of mine. Shinn, these two are Vivi and Joan. Two pilots of Chimera Squad."

"Greetings and salutations, kid. And, I'm serious about that frown." Shinn growled, but maintain his silence, to the slight relief of Lunamaria.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Asuka." Joan greeted the young pilot monotonously. Her eyes, however, gave him a sharp warning glare that promise something untoward to the boy in question.

"So, Pinky. What's up?" said Vivi, while still obstructing her view of the inside of the room.

"I was hoping to invite your team to breakfast. I hear they're serving bacon and eggs." Unbeknownst to the ZAFT pilot, she just offered an enticing offer to at least one of them.

"Hmm, breakfast does sound appealing" the black-haired Chimera pilot whispered to herself, now noticing the hunger pangs for the first time.

"De Arc has a point. I haven't had a single morsel for eight or so plus hours."

Joan turned around to face her commanding officer "Sir, permission to- uh- secure breakfast?"

Ran waved a lazy, dismissive hand and replied, "Sure, just bring us back something from their mess hall."

Placing a firm hand on her Lunamaria's shoulder, Vivi's smile widened "Great! It's a date then." She snaked a hand around Joan's arm and began pulling her squadmate. "C'mon De Arc. I'm sure Commandy Boy and El-Tee can handle any would-be assassins gunning for Ms. Cagalli." She pulled Joan with her stepped out of the room's proper. "Lead the way, Pinky." Vi turned to look at Shinn, "You might as well come with us, kiddo. Let's make this a double date."

The door slid close, but not before Shinn squawk indignantly with a resounding denial and followed by some teasing from the blond.

"Ms. Attha" Ran started. However, he noticed Cagalli's shoulders droop while Athrun slumped at the chair, drained of energy. "I know you have more questions right now, and I'll answer them as best as I can. But, from the way as I see it, you and Athrun here need some sleep."

She pointed towards the screen of the computer and blurted "How can I sleep when you and your commander announced an imminent invasion. Not just a normal invasion, but with aliens!" Cagalli, huffed and took several deep breaths "As hard as it is for me to do, this is too fantastical for trick of some kind. So, I'm giving your organization the benefit of a doubt." She ran her fingers through her hair before saying, "One last question for now lieutenant, if the invasion will occur right now what are the chances of us repelling it?"

"Everything as it is right now?" Cagalli nodded "then, I'll say around twenty percent. But, don't take my word for it. IntCo analysts will probably have a much lower figure than that."

"Why twenty then?" piped Athrun.

"Mobile Suit Technology is widely used, simple as that." He clapped both of his hands. "Now, go to sleep the both of you. I can already see Athrun's eyelids complying with my order." Cagalli was about to protest when he gave her a powerful gaze which stopped her short. "Now now Representative Attha, as the undisputed leader of Orb; you are allowed to sleep. Rash decisions are born from lack of sleep. You are after all not a terminator-like machine, or some sort augmented super-being, are you?" Cagalli paused, as if to think about it. Ran cocked an eyebrow "Are you?"

She shook her head and answered, "No"

"You two rest, we'll be outside." The lieutenant walked towards the door. Saros pulled himself from his rather comfy position and followed suit. They both step on the other side of the door. "Our quarters is just across the hall." Saros wave a goodbye at the two before the door slid shut.

Minerva's Bridge

Meyrin sighed as she places her headset tiredly on the console. It felt like she hadn't slept for days. She rubbed her eyes to try and fight off the exhaustion creeping in. Although, she did spend an entire hour listening to the local radio channels and what she heard made her slightly sad.

The news reports indicated the damage is lower than projected. The larger pieces of the colony which didn't break apart all landed in the water, creating towering tsunamis that battered the coastlines around the world. The most severe were around the Atlantic coast of both the Americas, Europe and Africa. The smaller debris which didn't end up disintegrated during entry bombarded around the equator, with the Equatorial Union taking the brunt of the damage.

"Meyrin, your shift ended five minutes ago" The CIC officer jumped in surprise at the Arthur's tone. "You need rest. The others are already off-duty."

Y-yes! I'll go right away." Meyrin pushed herself up and saluted the first officer, which he responded in kind and exited the bridge. She covered a huge yawn that threatened to split her face to two as she headed towards the cafeteria to at least fill her empty belly with something before going to sleep. On the way, she passed by one of the engineers doing maintenance check on of the ship's systems.

"Long day?" the engineer asked. Meyrin hummed in affirmative before forcing back another yawn. She absently fixed her cap before entering the cafeteria. Inside, she found her sister sitting on one of the tables with two strange girls wearing the same bulky suit she'd seen Lieutenant Ran wore. Lunamaria and the blond one were talking animatedly in-between bites while the black-haired one is merely content with sitting in silence, chowing down on her eggs and bacons and the occasional sliced bread with the use of a fork.

Meyrin filled her tray with foodstuffs and headed towards one of the empty tables when she heard her name being called out by a familiar voice. "Meyrin! Come and sit over here." She turned around to find her sister waving at her and patting the empty seat next to her. The younger Hawke sister swerved towards her older sibling and her new acquaintances and meekly sat beside Lunamaria.

The two strangers eyed her critically and she tensed her shoulder and slowly slid lower on her seat. "Guys, this is my sister Meyrin. Meyrin these two are Vivi and Joan."

"H-hello" the CIC officer meekly greeted the two. "Nice to meet you." The blond one extended her hand at her. Meyrin hesitated for a second before lightly grasping the offered hand.

"Hi, Meyrin." Vivi tightly grasp the meek young lady's hand and vigorously shook it, "Vivian Onatis, IMC, Chimera Squad, Callsign: Eighteen. Nice to finally meet you. You sound so different in person than on the comms though." She let go of her hand.

"Eh?" Meyrin found herself baffled at her comment, "but I sound the same." Vivi grinned at her and merely said nothing. Vivi's seatmate extended her hand and she shook it.

"Joan Watson, IMC, Chimera Squad, Callsign: Seventeen. Nice to mee you." She said coolly to her.

"L-likewise. Um what does IMC stand for?" Meyrin asked. Vivi's grin just went wider, but before she can say anything. Lunamaria butted in.

"'If I tell you, I'm gonna have to kill you'," her sister said in a lower, but slightly menacing voice and let out a laugh. "But, really though, why can't you tell us?"

"As I said before, IMC is IMC. Nothing more nothing less." Vivi replied as she laughed at Lunamaria's slightly peeved face.

"Um is one of you the sniper?" Meyrin look at the two, hopeful of meeting the mobile suit pilot she heard from the comms.

"Sniper?" the older Hawke sister asked, baffled at her young sister's question. Vivi and Joan looked at each other, then stared at Meyrin. Joan's gaze was merely out of curiosity while the much scarier blond had the look of mischief in her eyes.

Vivi smiled at the poor CIC officer, "looks like Commandy Boy has a fan now." Meyrin lowered her face, flushed with embarrassment. "Which is surprising as that guy doesn't like to show off." She leaned forward, resting her chin on her cupped hand. A smirked graced her face and asked, "What did he do to impress you anyway?" Lunamaria, also look at her sister with curiosity. The only other male pilot that participated in the battle was the glasses wearing guy reading a book. She didn't pay much attention to him as he didn't stand out like the rest of his squad. She regarded him as average and easily forgettable without his obvious quirks.

"Um" Meyrin looked away from them and said, "he—he is better than Luna at debris combat."

"What!?" Lunamaria's reaction drew looks from everyone around the cafeteria. "How can you say that to your own sister!" Joan just smiled and took another bite while Vivi enjoyed Lunamaria's outburst. "I mean, my—my scores are alright during the academy. Are you saying he's better?" Meyrin meekly nodded and took a small bite at her breakfast. "How?"

"He single-handedly defeated seven GINNs coming after him. Four at long range, three at close-combat using ambush tactics. A-and, I heard him mutter something about a missing sword. He was looking for it."

"That doesn't mean he's better than me."

"Oh, don't worry about him, Pinky. He's not the one to rubbed it in your face, say, unlike me."

"But, my own flesh and blood, my sister doubting me. I can't stand that." Lunamaria playfully whined. Meyrin lowered head, murmured an apology, and continue to eat in silence.

"You could always ask for pointers." Joan pointed out to the ZAKU pilot. "Though, I don't know if he'll agree."

Lunamaria seemed to think about, "Not a bad idea" she whispered to herself. She turned her attention to Meyrin. "Where did we land anyway?"

"L-Lake Ontario."

She scratched her, "Where is that one again? I'm not well-verse on Earth Geography." Joan's eyes lit with concern about the ship's location. She turned to glance at Vivi with the same concern. Meyrin was obviously nervous about their predicament, but continued to nibble on her breakfast.

Joan spoke with a low voice "that's definitely troublesome."

"Why's that?"

"We're in the middle of Atlantic Federation territory, Pinky. Any sane PLANT citizen would stay well away with their Anti-Coordinator sentiments. We picked a hell of a spot to land, that's for sure." Vivi stood up taking her empty tray, "De Arc and I should take our leave. A well-rested Chimera is the enemy's worst nightmare after all."

"Wait! We need to get Lieutenant Ran and Saros something to eat." Joan handed her tray over to Vivi and hurriedly went back to where the food was laid out.

Shift 04 End

AN: I completely rewrote more than half of the entire thing after posting the previous chapter and accidentally added around a thousand words not, including the extras. Still, I'm more than happy that it is a slightly significant improvement over the original and also, a tiny bit dissatisfied with it for whatever reason. So, I'll be more than happy for you readers to point out the flaws.

With that said, Darkstormer signing off... (*mumbles* I better start looking over at Chap. 5 *mumbles*)


End file.
